


First Date

by LadyKes



Series: POV [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2014-08-25
Packaged: 2018-02-14 19:58:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2201121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKes/pseuds/LadyKes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Viktor and Hermione have a rather typical date…for them, anyway.  Viktor's POV</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Date

Viktor had a dilemma.He had successfully asked Hermione to the Yule Ball last night and had even made tentative plans to meet with her today, but hadn’t actually set a time or place.He needed to get a message to her, but somehow he didn’t fancy the idea of walking over to her.She might not like the attention that would generate and he was sure he wouldn’t.He’d thought about it all through breakfast and his morning classes and now at lunch he had a solution (albeit a rather cloak-and-dagger solution).He’d quickly written a short note on a piece of parchment and said a spell to seal it with his grandmother’s family crest so no one would recognize it.He leaned over to a rather mischievous classmate and placed the note by him, adding another piece of parchment on top.This one was written in Bulgarian just to be sure only he and Dimitar would be able to understand it. It read:

_Dimitar,_  
 _Make sure this note gets to Hermione Granger at the Gryffindor table using the most complicated route possible.Extra points if it goes through all four tables at least once before getting to her._  
 _Viktor_

Dimitar looked at him and quirked an eyebrow in the affirmative before handing the note to a passing … Hufflepuff? with whispered instructions.Viktor knew Dimitar would never ask why Viktor was passing notes to girls and that he’d take this opportunity to show off his abilities to play games.

Viktor watched as the note went from Hufflepuff to Ravenclaw to Slytherin, back to Ravenclaw, and then to Gryffindor, where it passed through the hands of no less than five people before landing in Miss Granger’s lap.She looked at it with a somewhat puzzled expression, then opened it quickly and read it in her lap.She looked up at him and then looked down again, scratching a quick reply at the bottom before handing the note to a boy next to her with her own set of whispered instructions.Now the note went from Gryffindor to Hufflepuff to Ravenclaw to Hufflepuff to Slytherin, landing in Dimitar’s lap where it was passed to Viktor with a satisfied smile.He opened it and read the simple _Yes_ before closing it again and eating the rest of his lunch as if he had not been passing notes all around the Great Hall in a rather clandestine manner.

That night, on the stroke of six, Viktor walked into the library carrying his rucksack.He thought his fan club might be catching on to the bathroom trick, since one or two of them had stayed long enough that he’d actually had to walk into the bathroom and elaborately wash his hands before peeking out the door to see that they were gone.He’d then hurried up to the library using the most roundabout method he’d found in the hopes that he would further put them off his trail.

Miss Granger was sitting at her usual table with a book open in front of her, but she didn’t seem to be reading it.He sat down opposite her and pulled out the reference books he’d brought with him before saying, “Good effening, Miss Granger.”

She had looked up when he sat down.Now her eyes lit up at the sight of new books before she said, “Hello, Viktor.You can call me by my first name, you know.”

He could, it was true, but he preferred not to, explaining to her, “I am not able to say it right so I do not say at all.”

“It didn’t sound all that bad last night.Try it,” she encouraged.

“Er. Herminee?” he hazarded, looking unsure.

She smiled a bit, but said, “That’s not bad.Her-my-own-ee.”

“Her-mee-oh-nee?” he tried, thinking that he was closer this time.

“That’s fine. Close enough,” she said with a smile, before changing the subject and saying, “These look interesting,” as she motioned to the books between them.

He had temporarily forgotten the books were there, but he quickly picked one up and said, “I think this is translation of Transfiguration book you looked at vonce.You read in French. This is in Russian.”

She nodded before saying, “Yes, I enjoy reading books in other languages if I can.You might miss something if you only read the English translation. I can’t read anything but French and a little German, though, which limits me.”

“You are in luck then.I read Bulgarian, Russian, some German and not much English,” he finished deprecatingly. 

“Well, then between us we should be able to puzzle out quite a few books in the Foreign Languages Section,” she responded with a pleased smile.

“I thought perhaps” but here he was cut off by the noisy entry of his fan club.Evidently they had been arguing about the best place to find him and those who had voted for the library now began to proclaim their correctness and to whisper angrily at the fact that Viktor was sitting at a table with Hermione.Annoyance showed on Hermione’s face and she moved as if to get up from the table and go tell the fan club to leave, but she was forestalled by the appearance of Madam Pince.

“Now that is quite enough. You young ladies have disturbed my library far too many times this year, and I do not appreciate it.Leave, and do not return tonight,” she said angrily, pointing imperiously towards the door.

A few girls seemed like they were going to argue, but Madam Pince’s angry glare forestalled them and they all filed out silently, throwing angry glances over their shoulders at Hermione.

“I’m sorry, Madam Pince,” Hermione began, but the older woman cut her off with a wave.

“It’s quite alright, Hermione.I know neither you nor this young man here want those girls here.Feel free to sit and chat as long as you wish,” she finished with a significant glance towards them both before she went to her desk by the door and sat down, evidently prepared to guard against any wayward fan club members trying to sneak back in.

Hermione shrugged and looked at Viktor, prompting him with, “You were saying?”

“Ah, yes.I thought perhaps ve could compare these two” motioning to the two translations “and see if there are any interesting changes in vord choice.I vill read and translate the Russian if you vill help me vith English,” he said, feeling that his classmates might find this a rather odd way to spend an evening with a girl, but that Hermione seemed quite happy and that was good enough for him.

They discussed translational differences in Arithmancy, Transfiguration and Charms Theory (plus some information about each other, of course) over the next hour and a half before Hermione looked at her watch and said with some surprise, “Oh, it’s eight o'clock!Madam Pince will be wanting to close the library."

“Vell, ve should go then.Vould not vant you to be late for curfew,” he said with a smile, beginning to gather the books they’d pulled off the shelves and carrying them back to the Foreign Language section.Hermione picked up a few of the books as well, but he made sure he carried the largest, heaviest share of the books to be put away.

Once they were in the section, Hermione said, “Just put them on that shelf there.They’ll put themselves back on the shelves tonight,” and pointed to a shelf marked “To be re-shelved” with her chin since her hands were full of books.Viktor obediently put his books down before taking Hermione’s books and putting them on the shelf, taking this opportunity to enjoy being near her. She looked up at him, seeming to just now notice that they were practically standing on top of each other in the small cubby.He looked steadily at her, wondering how it was that this young woman wanted to spend time with him. 

They might have stood there forever had Hermione not suddenly blushed and slipped past him to go back to the table they’d shared.The contact was fleeting, but it was enough for him to smell vanilla and citrus and he had to shake his head to clear the smell before going back out to the table. 

Hermione picked up her rucksack and put her quills, parchment, and assorted academic detritus inside as he did the same before asking, “May I escort you to portrait hole?”

She smiled up at him and said, “I’m quite able to find it on my own, but if you’d like to accompany me, I wouldn’t object.”

He offered his arm, she took it and they walked up to the portrait hole, discussing final thoughts about translation and transliteration.When the reached the landing, Hermione looked up and him and said, “Well, I’m not sure if this counted as a date, but I had a good time.”

Viktor hoped it counted as a date, but he wasn’t sure either.Did dates involve Charm Theory?Whatever it was, he’d enjoyed it too.“As did I, Her-mee-oh-nee,” he said, offering his hand.This time, she knew what he was doing and gave him her hand to kiss before he gently released it and bowed, turning away to go down the steps before he was stopped by her voice saying, “Wait!”

He turned back towards her, looking at her questioningly.She appeared to be somewhat surprised that she’d even said anything, but she squared her shoulders and walked up to him, standing on tiptoes and bracing her hands on his upper arms to kiss him lightly on the cheek.That done, she blushed furiously before turning and practically running into the Common Room.

Viktor stood, somewhat stunned, until a grin slowly bloomed.He still hadn’t moved when a voice from behind him said in rather fruity tones, “Well, young man, I don’t think you have to worry about _her_ feelings regarding your evening.”

He turned to look at the portrait of a rather corpulent woman, who was looking at him smugly.No, he thought, he supposed he didn’t, turning once more to go down the steps while whistling the Durmstrang school song.He supposed he didn’t.  



End file.
